"We've been through this before," Pilots coach Garrett Smith said. "If this was our first trip to playoffs and we were ranked where we were, maybe there'd be some shock and surprise, but we've been there too many times to be surprised at this point." ...Smith said Boulder's altitude (5,430 feet) is in the back of one's mind. But he said his team is in shape.

"At the same time, their 11 has to be better than our 11," Smith said. "And I fancy our chances."

And besides, he said: "We did it at Utah last year. We'll do it at Denver this year."